


Quit Staring

by Oilux



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Inspired By Tumblr, Keith starts tuning into a full galra, M/M, angsts with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 12:10:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12012426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oilux/pseuds/Oilux
Summary: Once Keith is hit with a beam of magic, his Galra side starts to come forward and change his appearance. What will happen when everyone else starts noticing as well?





	Quit Staring

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this amazing art](https://suitboxers.tumblr.com/post/158489833444/what-if-keiths-body-slowly-starts-turning-galra) by suitboxers on tumblr! If you have a chance you should go and check out their work.

“Keith!”

Later, after the battle, Keith would make fun of Lance for the way his voice cracked as he screamed Keith’s name, but in the heat of the moment it was what saved his life. He swung his bayard, hitting the Galra soldier who was about to slice off a limb. While that saved his life, there was no way for Keith to dodge the beam of pure magic that hit him right in the chest. 

Keith stumbled back, and knew only darkness. When he woke up again, the battle was over, he was waking up from being in the cryopod, his body useless in following the commands of his brain. With nothing to support him, Keith fell forward, falling against someone he didn’t immediately recognize.

“Whoa, buddy, I got you.” Lance adjusted him easily, even as everyone surrounded them. It was like Lance didn’t want anyone else to touch him. “You okay?”

Keith tried to form words, he really did, but all that came out was a mumble as he tried to ask what happened. His chest ached with every breath he took, he could only imagine what had hit him to injure him so badly.

“You were hit with magic, by golly it probably had some pure quintessence in it!” Coran was much too loud, and Keith winced at the the spark of pain that raced through his head. “Sorry, Keith.” He was quieter that time.

“I’ll take him to rest.” Lance tried to offer, but everyone was still trying to talk. Allura’s voice cut through all of them though.

“We’re not sure of the affect your body will have from the magic, and the cryopod, because of your Galra blood.” Allura brushed some hair out of Keith’s eyes, until Lance moved him away. “You should rest.”

Lance nodded, no longer waiting for them to part before he walked away. Keith had to lean on Lance heavily, barely taking a step by himself without stumbling. Lance didn’t seem to care, and before Keith could blink he was being pressed against a soft bed that smelled of seawater.

“You okay though?” Lance tugged a blanket over Keith, but loosely. “You were asleep for a long time.”

Before Keith could say anything in reply, be it comfort or a sarcastic remark, he was asleep, leaving Lance to wait patiently, again, for him to wake up.

* * *

The mark from the magic centered on his breastbone, swirling out in the way that Keith had seen scars from lightning create patterns. The aches left after a couple days, and the bruises faded, but the scar remained, a constant reminder of what he had gone through.

It was times like this, when he was alone in his room, unwilling to bug anyone else, that Keith found he missed Shiro the most. He missed his brother’s jokes, he missed the reassurances, and the calming presence that Shiro had that calmed Keith’s worries. 

“Hey, Keith, you okay?” Lance didn’t knock before he walked in, not that he normally ever did. “Pidge was just talking…”

“I’m fine, Lance.” Keith snapped. He didn’t rush to put a shirt on, because he knew it was going to be seen eventually. They would see it in training, when they went to the pool, at some point everyone on the team would see what happened.

_ Better get it over with now,  _ Keith thought bitterly. Lance probably thought it was a horrendous to look at, as would anyone who saw it.

Keith moved to tug the shirt over his head, but something snagged on it, and he was forced to stop, looking at what the fabric snagged itself on. It was Lance, his fingers preventing Keith from putting on his shirt, his eyes glued to Keith’s chest. Under any circumstances, Keith wouldn’t have minded, but now he felt self conscious.

“Geeze, it just looks so bad.” Lance mumbled. “Are you okay? Does it still hurt?”

Lance’s fingers freed the shirt, and instead reached out and brushed along a purple patch of skin against Keith’s skin. It looked like a bruise, but didn’t hurt when Lance touched it. Shakily exhaling, and cheeks heating up beyond his control, Keith took a step back.

“It doesn’t hurt. Think it’s just healing still.” Keith pulled his shirt over his head, ignoring the concerned look from Lance. “Let’s go train.”

Lance obviously wanted to say something, but Keith was already out the door, not saying a word to Lance. After a moment, he heard the other paladin shuffle after him, words weighing down heavily between them.

* * *

The purple bruises on his chest didn’t fade, but seemed to spread. They didn’t hurt, but it was starting to look like his chest was turning purple from the inside out. Keith didn’t know what it was meant to be, or if it was something worse, so he simply shrugged on a shirt and decided he wasn’t going to worry about it.

“Keith! C’mon quit styling your mullet and get to training!” Pidge knocked on his door, quickly disappearing when he looked outside. Did he need to style his mullet? Keith ran a hand through his hair, heading out.

“About time.” Lance teased when he arrived at the training area. Hunk was taking his turn, trying hand to hand combat with a small robot. Hunk was like Lance in some ways, as in he had more strengths in long range combat than he did at hand to hand. 

“Shut up, Lance.” Keith rolled his eyes. Lance chuckled, but didn’t say anything else, seeming to psych himself up for his training session. He must have been up after Hunk.

“Hey, wanna spar?” Pidge was suddenly at Keith’s side, as she had a tendency for doing. How she managed to move so quickly and quietly was beyond Keith, but it was a skill that served her well. 

“You think you can take me?” Keith asked, stepping back to draw his bayard. Pidge had a small smile on her face, and she got into her fighting stance easily. 

“It’s so on.”

She took the first move, stepping forward and lunging at him with the laser part of her bayard. It nearly brushed against him, threatening to slice through his armor with precision. Keith brought his sword down, not truly aiming to kill, but enough to disarm her.

“Don’t take off a limb, Keith!” Lance called from the back as Pidge had to dodge another blow. Keith’s style of fighting was a lot more aggressive than her own, while she focused on sneak attacks and agility.

Pidge dropped down to avoid another swing of Keith’s sword, and Keith barely had a moment to react before Pidge swiped his legs out from underneath him, sending Keith sprawling out to the floor. Panic clawed at his chest for a moment, as Pidge surged forward, pinning him down and her bayard at his neck, hot laser threatening to end his life.

“Well, that was fun.” Pidge laughed, not moving away yet, but distracted a little. Keith’s bayard was sprawled halfway on the other side of the room, away from where he could get ahold of it.

Keith threw himself up, sending Pidge sprawling out to the floor where she struggled to regain her balance. Keith didn’t even think of going back to get his bayard, he simply lunged, fingers curling into fists and his nails sharp against his hands.

“Keith!” Lance shouted, just enough to make Keith hesitate, his sharpened nails a hair’s breadth away from Pidge’s throat, ready to claw and maim and take care of the threat before it got worse. 

Keith threw himself back, panting hard in his chest to fight down the desire to see blood, Pidge was shaking and looking at him in a way that  _ screamed  _ betrayal, and Keith had absolutely no idea what to say. Lance put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, strong and firm while Keith finally looked away from Pidge, down at his hands.

“Keith…” Lance murmured his name, and Keith would be lying if he said he wasn’t becoming addicted to the way Lance said his name, but that wasn’t the issue here. He tore himself away from Lance, mumbling an apology to Pidge before he tore himself away from Lance, rushing to his room.

He missed the scent of sea water as he found himself in his room, a smell he hadn’t been able to find since Lance had helped him to bed. The issue was one that didn’t stay on his mind for long though, as he couldn’t take his gaze away from his hands. 

The nails on his hands were sharpened, fine points. To see how strong they were, Keith lightly ran them against the skin of his forearm, barely applying any pressure, and thin cuts appeared, thin red cuts with little drops of crimson blood appearing along them. 

He could have killed Pidge. If Lance hadn’t said his name, he would have dug his claws into her throat until crimson blood spilled it was like a burning need in his chest, that seeing his own blood helped quell. It wasn't enough, but it prevented Keith from escaping his room and spilling more blood. 

“Keith, what the  _ fuck  _ was that?” Lance slammed his hand against Keith’s door, which made Keith  _ hiss  _ of all things. He clamped a hand over his mouth, but Lance continued on without noticing. “You could have hurt Pidge!”

“I know!” Keith shouted through the door. “I'm sorry. I'll be out later.”

Lance didn't say anything, but after a moment he heard Lance’s footsteps as he left Keith to his guilt. Keith didn't move from his spot on the floor for a while, eventually finding his way to his bed where he curled up underneath his blankets. 

Hours later, he emerged from his room, nails filed down to nubs, and apologized to Pidge. By the end of the day, his nails were back, waiting to be filed down once more in the morning.

* * *

The purple on his chest was spreading, brightest in the middle of his chest but noticeable elsewhere as well. Along the insides of his wrists, by his ears, the inside of his elbows. Keith wanted to chalk it up to bad lighting, but that simply wasn’t it. His jaw ached, like someone had repeatedly punched him, and the lights were too bright for his eyes.

“Hey, you coming to training?” Hunk knocked at his door, but didn’t enter. Lance was the only one who took the initiative to simply walk into his room without knocking. 

“I’m not feeling too good.” Keith called back. His jaw ached even talking.

“Okay, I’ll make some soup for ya.” Hunk said, stepping back from the door. Keith sighed heavily in relief, his body aching for rest. 

“Thanks, Hunk.” Keith called, falling unceremoniously onto his bed. It had never felt so soft as it did right then, with him curling up in the sheets and easily falling back into sleep. Hiding himself under the blankets, Keith never wanted to move again.

“Keith?” Lance’s voice caused Keith to blink the sleep from his eyes, but he didn’t emerge from his cocoon of warm blankets. “You okay? Hunk said you weren’t feeling well.”

“I’m just tired.” Keith tried to sound forceful, but it came out weak. He was just so tired. The bed dipped as Lance sat down on it, but Keith didn’t move to acknowledge him.

“Dude, are you sick? I think Allura probably has a cure for the cold up here, you know.” Lance tugged at the blanket, pulling it down before Keith had a chance to grab it, which was good, because his claws would have shredded it to bits. 

“Keith, what...what’s going on?” Lance asked, his voice a whisper. Keith clenched his fists, refusing to look up, eyes squeezed shut.

“Nothing, just not feeling too good.” Keith grabbed the blanket, and Lance didn’t fight him for it, allowing Keith to slip back underneath the blankets, into the strange safety that was his nest. 

“It’s okay, I’m going to go talk to Allura.” Keith felt Lance’s fingers brush against the blanket, and then nothing. The bed moved, and then he could hear the door slide shut.

A part of Keith knew he should see if he looked worse, or what Lance was doing, but exhaustion ate away at him again, and before he could move out of bed, he was asleep once more.

* * *

“He’s turning  _ purple.”  _ Lance crossed his arms, frowning at Coran and Allura. They were typing away on their computers, trying to figure out what Lance was talking about. “Are you guys paying attention to me?” 

“Lance, please calm down, I’m sure Keith’s fine.” Allura said, pulling away from the computer to put her hand on Lance’s arm. “Lance, just relax.”

“You didn’t see him, Allura.” Lance took a step away from her. “I’m just worried.”

“Well, it seems the cryopod might have had something to do with it. Healing Keith meant infusing the magic that was shot into him. It’s possible that the magic is waking up Keith’s Galra half.” Coran typed a few more numbers into the computer. “It’s hard to tell how far this will go.”

“We’ll just need to be as supportive as possible.” Allura instantly said, not missing a beat. “We will not make him feel unwelcome here.”

“Well you already have before.” Lance snapped, and Allura’s face fell. He felt terrible, but he was so worried he didn’t take his words back just yet. Allura cleared her throat, turning instead to Coran. 

“Maybe you can go and reassure him then, Lance.” Coran said. “We can work it out later if Keith gets worse.”

“Fine.” Lance said, almost snapping. He glanced at Allura, mumbling a sorry underneath his breath, he could truly apologize later to her. 

Worry ate at his chest, not because Keith was turning Galra, but because of how upset Keith was over the fact. Keith showing more of his Galra side was something that he knew could happen, something they all knew could happen, but apparently not Keith.

He softly knocked on the door, Keith’s door, Lance had walked there without even realizing it. Keith didn’t answer, but after a moment the door slid open and revealed Keith, still wrapped up heavily in his blanket. Lance slid into the room, watching as Keith slid the door shut behind him.

“You know we won’t care you’re Galra, right?” Lance started, immediately wincing at his phrasing. Keith sat down next to him, refusing to take off his blanket. “Keith...we’ll always care for you. Shiro would have said the same thing.”

Lance sighed when Keith, didn’t reply, moving slowly to tug at the blanket. Keith seemed to have resigned himself to his appearance, but still refused to look up until Lance had Keith wrapped in a hug. Even then, Keith waited a long moment before he finally moved, hands clutching at Lance’s shirt. 

“It’s just been getting  _ worse.”  _ Keith mumbled, his voice muffled by Lance’s shirt. After a moment, Lance moved, pulling one of Keith’s hands away from his shirt to examine the splotches of purple, the sharp nails.

“I just want it to stop.” Keith mumbled.

Lance sighed. Keith didn’t seem to notice that his canines were sharper, or that his eyes had a yellow tint to them, or that his ears were pointed. Lance didn’t say any of those things, simply keeping Keith in a tight hug and refusing to let go. 

“Keith, we aren’t going to care how you look.” Lance mumbled. “It’s okay. I know it’s got to be scary.”

Keith nodded slightly, moving and putting his face in the crook of Lance’s neck. Lance didn’t say anything, sneaking a kiss against Keith’s hair, hoping the other wouldn’t notice. Lance couldn’t imagine how upsetting this must have been, he simply wanted to offer comfort.

“Lance, why are you so nice?” Keith mumbled. He was so close, Lance could feel his breath against his skin. Lance just shrugged, trying not to dislodge Keith from his place. 

“Just who I am, I guess.” Lance tried to joke. The tension was palpable in the air, hanging thick between them. Just as Lance was starting to think of what he could say, Keith pulled back, looking up at Lance.

“I like who you are.” Keith mumbled, and was Keith closer to him or was it just Lance? They were so close already, Keith’s lips parted slightly.

Lance refused to think, because thinking would have ruined this, and maybe this was the wrong time to share his first kiss with Keith, when the other was so upset, but already their lips were pressing against each other, refusing to part. Keith didn’t seem to mind, his hand coming up to cup Lance’s cheek, his thumb brushing over his cheekbone. 

When they parted, Lance pressed his forehead against Keith’s, refusing to let Keith pull away from him, despite the obvious want of Keith’s to pull back. Lance pressed a kiss against the corner of Keith’s mouth, trying to still be reassuring.

“Lance…” Keith murmured, staring at Lance. “Are you sure about this?”

Lance answered with a kiss, just as soft as the one before it, that let Keith know just how sure he was about this. Keith grasped the lapel of his jacket, pressing himself closer. It was just as tender as the one before.

* * *

“Keith, you look fine.” Lance reassured. Over the past couple days, Keith had turned into more of a Galra, his eyes almost completely yellow, his skin more purple than before. His ears were pointed like an elf’s, and Lance suspected that would soon change as well.

“You sure?” Keith tapped his nails against his helmet. He moved, pressing a quick and reassuring kiss to Lance’s cheek, his cheeks coloring at the attention. They only turned a darker shade of purple, but Lance still thought it was adorable.

“You look fine.” Lance reassured. Keith nodded, but still looked nervous. Lance grasped his hand, finally taking Keith out of the room and down the hall. 

When they entered the training room, Lance refused to allow Keith to hide behind him. It was a tense, awkward moment, as everyone took in the new appearance of Keith, no one saying anything for a long moment.

“Hey, Keith.” Pidge finally said, turning back to her handheld device. It looked like a cell phone. “I beat your high score in the training booth.”

“What?” Keith looked genuinely offended that she would even consider that. “No way.”

“No, Pidge really did.” Hunk said. “It was amazing.”

“I’m going to have to fix that then.” Keith joked, and they all erupted into laughter, the thick tension in the air disappearing as quickly as it came. Some of the tension was still there as Keith made his way to the training floor, but it wasn’t as thick as before, it was just them getting used to a new development.

“So, are you guys going to start randomly making out while training now? Because I don’t think I can handle that.” Pidge said, summoning her bayard. “Keep it in the bedroom.”

“You wish.” Keith laughed. “Are you going to show me what you got or are you going to make me work for it?”

Pidge laughed and attacked the training drone, leaving Keith and Lance to watch together. For the first time in a while, as Lance stole another kiss, Keith thought it was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment, and to check out my [tumblr](oilux.tumblr.com) for more work!


End file.
